Tag Archives: link up

Alas, my friends, it’s time for Mel and me to put the cap on the old ketchup bottle. Oft called the little writing prompt that could, Ketchup With Us was born over drinks (and I’m pretty sure some fancy cheese and olives) in New York City back in 2012. It began as a quirky idea that challenged two friends to don a ketchup costume in as many crazy and inappropriate situations and places as could be imagined. We definitely tested the limits our own creativity, courage and dignity along the way. Because Ketchup is and has always been about thinking outside the box bottle … and not taking yourself too seriously, something I suspect we’re all guilty of from time to time.

Over the last two years as human ketchup bottles,

We’ve visited historical places …

… and followed in some pretty famous footsteps.

We’ve been introduced to a slew of amazing celebrities …

… and some pretty great locals, too.

We’ve learned how to kick ass and take names …

…. how to serve our fellow man

… and how to cause and feel pain.

We’ve gotten into trouble here and there …

… where things got a little hairy

But they always settled down again. Because KetchupWithUs has never been about stress.

But it’s always been about two fools in ketchup costumes coming up with new ways to write and have fun doing it.

Period.

Thanks for riding shotgun, Mel.

Just remember, today is not goodbye. After all, Mel and I still each own a (smelly) ketchup costume and you just never know where those things might resurface. But, for now, we’re taking a little break and hoping that everyone will stay in touch. We’ve had the honor of meeting some very talented people over the course of our two-year journey and we don’t plan to let go of you without a fight. Or at least a little light begging.

It’s time for THE SECOND TO LAST KETCHUP WITH US, hosted by Mel and me. The final KWU will run on September 15. Maybe it’ll come back again. But, for now, we just need a breather. Plus that ketchup costume is starting to smell.

What can I say? Well, I guess since it’s September 1st, I’ll start with HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you’re having a wonderful birthday/Labor Day combo platter with the family. (I wonder … does it suck to have your birthday on Labor Day? I mean … what if you want to go to the post office? Or visit your local bank branch? Ooh, or have your garbage collected? You’re screwed! Well, here’s hoping none of these activities was on your birthday wish list.)

Anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to tell you how great it’s been doing KetchupWithUs, our very unconventional writing prompt, with you for two years now. (Yes, that’s right, America. KetchupWithUs is also celebrating a birthday today.) There is nobody else in the world with whom I’d rather ambush the Fifth Avenue Prada store, heckle Pat Sajak over drinks or cause confusion at the site of the Liberty Bell … dressed as a giant ketchup bottle … than you. Your creativity, your spunk and your sheer willingness to do just about anything (and look like a complete ass doing it) with me is mind-blowing. And I just wanted you to know how amazing and integral you are to me every single day.

Here’s to the next big adventure. I LOVE YOU, MEL BUGAJ!!! (Great, now everyone thinks I’m gay. … Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

Your partner in dumbassery,

Michele

I really missed our annual trip this year. So start saving your pennies. Because next year … it’s so on! 🙂

It’s time for Ketchup With Us, hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month. Today, we’re talking about firsts. ANY firsts. Tell us about one in your life. Or just link up an old post. You decide.

* * * * * * * * * *

Tomorrow is my son’s first day of school. He’s going to be a freshman in high school. Don’t even get me started on that one. I’ve already cried twice today and it had absolutely nothing to do with that. For the most part anyway.

With Vivien already entrenched in her school, I wanted to do something special with Dean today on his last day of summer. Something besides just prepping all of his clothes and supplies. And last night, I finally decided what that something special would be. It’s a timely choice for his age as well as for this week. Plus it gives me the opportunity to share something with him from my youth.

I’m not sure I’ve seen this movie since it first played in theaters. Back in the year Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Nine. (Doesn’t it feel like that should be written on parchment paper? Preceded by “in the year of our Lord.”) I can’t believe this movie is now twenty-five years old. I could tell Dean wasn’t completely sold on my selection.

“But, Mom … it’s soooo old.”

“And it looks boring.”

“Wait. It’s about school? And boys reading poetry to each other? Wow. I can’t wait.”

Okay, so he didn’t actually say any of those things. But I could read them all over his face. After all, this movie offered no planet-altering explosions. No spectacular special effects. And nobody like Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg or whoever else plays the smartass/hero in teen movies these days. It couldn’t possibly be any good.

What do I know? I’m just a mom.

But I didn’t care. I sat him down, found it on Amazon and clicked “purchase.” He’s a smart kid. I knew he’d like it if he gave it a chance. Plus, from the very beginning, there were kids smoking and cursing enough to distract him from the fact that this was an “intellectual” film. (I have absolutely no idea why I used quotes there.)

Fortunately, my gamble paid off. He had a few questions during the movie. We paused it once or twice so I could (over-) explain a thing or two. And, by the time we got to the pivotal scenes, he was fully invested. So I could cry quietly without fear of eye rolling and snickering. I assume 99% of you have seen the movie in which case you already know what I’m talking about. To the 1% who haven’t, I have no intention of spoiling it for you. Do take the time to see the movie in its entirety. Soon. And don’t watch the following clip. It made me cry today. For an entirely different reason than why it made me cry back in 1989.

Dead Poets Society. It’s a great movie to revisit. Compelling, stimulating. I’m glad I was with Dean when he saw it for the first time. He’s already asked when we can watch it again. Because he wants his sister to see it. And he wants to be there when she sees it for the first time.

It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, this one is SOOOO easy!

* * * * * * * * * *

Selfies. We’ve all taken one. Or hundreds. They can showcase your whereabouts, your accomplishments or sometimes just your new haircut. Showcase being the key word. Because they’re often regarded as vane and not very community-minded, maybe it’s time for a new trend.

Enter the USIE (sometimes spelled ussie, always pronounced fussy). And we want to see yours. Need some examples?

Added 1/15/15 for Mamakat’s Writing Prompt: “Find a photo of yourself taken 10 years ago and display it on your blog along with a current photo. How have you changed since the day that photo was taken?”

See the matching pictures below? The top one was taken in 2014 and the bottom in 2004. Sure, they look a lot alike. But the first girl … well, she’s a little older and a little wiser. She’s gotten a lot more red and a lot more said. Because she’s WRITING again.

And she’s so glad to have rekindled that part of her. She likes to think it keeps her young. And talk colorfully of herself in the third person.

Original Post Starts Here:

It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, our link-up gives you TWO ways to play: (A) Write about anything for 10 minutes OR (B) Link up an old post. Or both!

Eight days?!!? Gosh, has it really been eight days since I last wrote something for the blog? Shame on me. Well, except I can’t take all the blame. Because I was, as they say, at sea for an extended period of time. Overeating, overdrinking (but only one day), oversunning and overworrying about my kids who ran amuck on that ship like they were a couple of college kids.

We had a great time. All eleven of us. (We like to travel in throngs.) And I’m just now starting to catch up on my sleep. So I wanted to take a minute (ten to be exact) to share a few points of interest from my most recent cruising experience.

(1) If you’re going to sing a song karaoke-style, take some time to choose your selection wisely. And think about the original person who performed it. If you can’t hit every note in the shower, then you sure as hell can’t hit it in front of a room full of people. I’m still shaking my head at my own stupidity. Sheena Easton. What was I thinking?!!?

(2) The Mayan Ruins in July? If I wouldn’t take on an activity during the summer months in my home city of New Orleans, then I certainly shouldn’t be trying to do it in Mexico. It’s 651 miles CLOSER TO THE EQUATOR.

(3) Just because the catamaran crew says I can drink as much as I want doesn’t mean I should drink as much as I want. You’d think I would have learned that back in college. Or in my 20s. Or in my 30s.

(4) Dave and I need to create trivia contests on the boat. Or at least the 80s music trivia contest. (pause for questions) Why yes, I’m glad you asked. As a matter of fact, we DID come home with a 1st place trophy.

(5) Four is apparently the maximum number of appetizers I should order in one sitting to create a meal of “small plates.” Not surprisingly, cream of mushroom soup, a crab cake, a (distinctively small) sushi sampler and a cheese plate can be quite filling when combined to create one overindulgent feast the likes of which we haven’t seen since ‘Gluttony’ was depicted in Brad Pitt’s Seven.

I could go on. And maybe I will in another post. But, for today, I just wanted you guys to know I was back on the grid. And that I didn’t forget about you. And that I so appreciate my friend, Mel, stopping by to say hi while I was away.

Did we take pictures? Well, sure. We took plenty. But for now, I’ll just leave you with one, taken of Dave and me at dinner the last night. For the record, the picture beneath it was taken at dinner on a cruise just like this one exactly ten years earlier.

It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, our link-up gives you TWO ways to play: (A) Write about anything for 10 minutes OR (B) Link up an old post. Or both!

What do you write about when you don’t know what to write about? Well, now THAT is a good question. I guess after writing for thirty days straight about everything from my kids to the big summer musical I did with my daughter to, well, the crap in my refrigerator that isn’t actually edible, it’s hard to think of anything else.

What the hell has happened to me lately that qualifies as interesting?

I ate something a few weeks ago called Duck Fat Fries. Is that interesting? I don’t know, but it sure as hell was delicious. To the extent that there’s an excellent chance I’ll be placing a to-go order with this high-end restaurant pretty soon. (Seriously, where’s my phone?) Ducks. I don’t like to eat their gamey meat. Who’d have thought potatoes fried in their grease would be do damned yummy? (Please don’t tell PETA I said that.)

What else? What else?

Ooh! A rat licked my face. No. YOU shut up. I AM being serious. But I should probably mention that her name is Lily. She’s owned. She wasn’t just a random rat I met on the street. I have standards. I’m not some cheap floozy who lets just ANY rat I meet lick all over my face. Because that would be weird.

Of course, this rat was a girl. Should I be concerned about that? Should I be listening to more Indigo Girls (how sad that that’s my newest reference) and booking tickets to Lilith Fair? Does that even still happen every year? And also, have I just offended anyone with my tongue-in-cheek reference to my wandering gender preference for girl rats? Anyone who knows me at all knows I’m kidding.

Tolerance is my middle name.

Actually, it’s Annette. Or it was Annette until I got married and dumped it for my maiden name. Which was fine with me because I could never get past the old Grease lyric. You guys remember, right? Stockard Channing sang it at the slumber party when she was making fun of Sandy. “Would you pull that crap with Annette?” It always confused me as a child. Let’s just say I took it way too literally and couldn’t figure out why, for the life of me, anyone would ever want to do that. Disgusting.

Oh, but back the rat. You guys don’t believe me, do you? Well, that’s why I had my picture taken. With a rat. Licking me. On the face.

It’s time for Ketchup With Us. Hosted by Mel and me on the 1st & 15th each month, our link-up gives you TWO ways to play: (A) Write about anything for 10 minutes OR (B) Link up an old post. Or both!

1. Because KWU attracts some of the sweetest writers out there.

2. Because I can always count on a good laugh with every link-up.

3. Because I can usually count on a good cry with every link-up.

4. Because we’re coming up on our 50th link-up later this year and (mustering the courage to say it) we’re considering putting the cap on the ketchup bottle if we don’t get more linkers. (fleeing room in tears)

June is Blog Post by Numbers Month. Wanna play with Mel and me? Just write a “listy-type” post with a number in the title (ex. FOUR Reasons I Love Mayonnaise, SIX Things You Can Do With A Paper Clip). Then link back to us and tweet us about it so we can include you on June 30th in our final list of Great Bloggers Who Played the Blog Post by Numbers Game!

FINALLY … THE LINK-UP!

P.S. Father’s Day and KWU Day coincided this year. I think it has to do with the moon being in the 7th house or Jupiter and Mars aligning or something. Anyway, because of this lunar phenomenon, I released TWO posts in ONE day today. Know what that means, right? (awkward pause) It means I’ll see you Tuesday! 🙂